Hypnotist canceled for North Port graduation party

Organizers of an after-graduation party for North Port High School seniors have canceled a hypnotist they had booked as entertainment.

“It would have been a media frenzy,” Nancy DeCarlo, an organizer of the annual Project Graduation, said this morning.

DeCarlo and others cancelled hypnotist Jon Simon, who has performed for school groups before, because they feared the media would disrupt the June 4 party at the South County Family in YMCA.

North Port High principal George Kenney is on administrative leave while the school district investigates whether he violated orders by conducting one-on-one hypnosis sessions with students. School officials have said they were unaware Kenney was conducting individual hypnosis sessions.

The sessions became widely known after the parent of a student who committed suicide last month voiced concerns about them. The teen had undergone three hypnosis sessions with Kenney.

Kenney, principal since the school opened in 2001, had a website promoting his hypnosis of students, and also performed his sessions in front of other students and with the knowledge of sports coaches. School Board members have said his hypnotizing of students was inappropriate for a school principal

The hypnotist's show was planned as a fundraiser for Project Graduation, an effort to provide drug- and alcohol-free entertainment for teenagers after graduation. Project Graduation is affiliated with schools but not run by them. Simon has done his comedy act for North Port's Project Graduation seven times, and recently performed at Charlotte County Project Graduation events.